BRUSSELS, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- European Commission
President Jose Manuel Barroso has denied any involvement in, or knowledge of,
secret CIA flights in Portugal, when he was prime minister of the country,
Barroso's spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said on Monday.
"During his term of office as prime minister of
Portugal, he had never authorized CIA rendition flights or any other measure
that would be in contradiction with Portuguese law, and at no point had
information on such flights," Laithenberger said at a mid-day press briefing at
the European Commission, the executive body of the EU.
Barroso will not testify before the European
Parliament investigators, said Laitenberger, adding that it is for the
Portuguese authorities, not the European Commission, to provide information or
clarification on this issue.
He said that the Portuguese authorities are in full
cooperation with the investigation of the European Parliament and the probe by
the Council of Europe.
Barroso served as Portuguese prime minister since
2002, and resigned to take up the current job in 2004. Enditem
